Surprise Visit
by StartWhereYouAreUseWhatYouHave
Summary: Jess shows up in Stars Hollow unexpectedly and Luke is concerned.


Luke's first thought in response to the smell was that his apartment was on fire. Seconds later, as his brain passed the tipping point from sleep to consciousness and was able to refine its sensory intake, he was able to replace the identity of the smell previously processed as 'burning' with 'egg frying.' While not as startling, the smell of eggs frying, along with the hissing of butter and the clink of the spatula against the pan, left Luke in a momentary confusion. The last person to make him breakfast had been Rachel. Even then it was a rare occurrence. Maybe his birthday once or twice and the occasional Valentine's Day. Rachel frequently traveled for work and even when they were both home, he'd typically been up an hour or two before her to open the diner. In the handful of dating experiences he'd had pre or post-Rachel that had become serious enough to involve breakfast, Luke was usually the one doing the cooking. Lying in bed listening to someone else make breakfast was most closely related to his parents for Luke. It brought back a feeling of family and safety, of home. Before his mom died when he was a kid, homemade breakfast had been a daily ritual. His father had kept it up on the weekends, at least, until he'd gotten sick and Luke had taken over cooking along with most of the household chores.

Luke was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a glass break, followed by Jess' quiet cursing. Jess. Jess had come home for a surprise visit last night. He had shown up around nine o'clock looking tired. As much as Luke had been delighted to see his nephew, he couldn't completely suppress the gut instinct that something was off about Jess showing up in Stars Hollow unexpectedly. Even Jess himself had seemed a little off as he'd let Luke hug him and waved off Luke's offer to make him something to eat. The boy had seemed a little tentative, almost nervous. Luke had thought they were in a really good place now. Had been since the boy had left Stars Hollow after his mother's wedding. Luke had been out to New York and then Philly several times since then to take Jess to lunch and check out his bookstore, and they had fairly regular phone calls. Luke was proud of how many of those calls Jess himself had initiated in the last year or so. At Luke's prodding, Jess had even been back to Stars Hollow for the most recent Thanksgiving, but he'd never just turned up out of the blue like this. After all the arguments and stress of having been the guardian of a teenage Jess, Luke was relieved to have finally reached a solid, adult relationship with a twenty-two year old Jess. A Jess who had written a novel, who worked at an independent publishing company doing something he enjoyed. A Jess who had his own place to live, and was able to pay his bills. A responsible and mature incarnation of his wayward teenage nephew. Luke was impressed with everything Jess had accomplished. He couldn't be more proud of the kid. But, he also couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, that this first ever surprise visit might mean Jess was in some kind of trouble.

With a sigh, Luke decided it was time to get out of bed. He made his way to the kitchen to find Jess, similarly dressed in pajama pants and a t-shirt, picking pieces of glass out of the sink. He looked up as Luke approached, his mouth forming a small, hesitant smile. "Sorry. I broke a glass. That's not how I meant to wake you." Just as last night, Jess struck Luke as not his usually cocky, sarcastic self and it re-ignited his worry as to why the boy was here.

"It's ok, Jess. Small price to pay for having you home." Luke put his hand on Jess' shoulder, gave a light squeeze and pulled slightly to move the boy away from the sink. "You finish breakfast and I'll take care of this." Luke took the large pieces of glass out of Jess' hands and set to work picking up the smaller shards from the basin of the sink. Jess brushed his hands off on his pants and took the eggs off the stove with a spatula and assembled them into sandwiches with English muffins and cheese.

"It's nice to see you picked up some skills working in the diner all that time." Luke smiled at his nephew as he threw out the glass shards, washed his hands, and grabbed two glasses from the cabinet. Filling them with orange juice, he met Jess at the table where the boy was setting down the egg sandwiches. "I picked up all kinds of life skills from a very wise man working in that diner," Jess said, "Yep, I was pretty lucky to have someone like Caesar in my life as a boy." Jess smirked, looking a little more like himself to Luke as they sat down to breakfast.

"Smartass," Luke muttered. "So, to what do I owe your inspiration to cook us breakfast? Why didn't you just run downstairs and have your 'mentor' whip something up?" Jess looked up from his sandwich and finished chewing, "I don't know, nothing particular. I just figured you don't usually take a weekend day off like this, and now that I have a business that I live above, I have a new sense of appreciation for wanting to distance yourself from said business on a day off. So, I figured you might like to eat up here. Plus, I'm pretty much in the habit of making myself one of these every morning, and I figured not making you one, too, would just be rude." Jess smirked and paused to take another bite of his egg sandwich. "So, did you have any plans for today before I showed up without calling. Any hot dates that I'm getting in the way of?"

Luke looked thoughtful as he finished chewing, "I didn't have anything lined up that can't be pushed aside to spend time with you. I would have just worked today, but I called in Lane and asked Caesar to open after you got in last night. So, what do you want to do today?"

"I was thinking maybe we could go…..fishing…" Jess said, eyes trained down on his sandwich.

Luke raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, seriously? You want to go fishing?"

Jess looked up, unsure, "Sure, why not? You always wanted to go fishing when I lived here and we never did it."

Luke started to laugh, "I think the only time we've ever been in a boat together was when we were tracking down that swan that 'beaked' you and gave you a black eye. You actually want to fish, like actually put a worm on a hook and sit quietly bonding with your uncle in a boat?"

"Yeah."

"Really, you really want to go fishing?"

"I said I did, didn't I." Jess bit out, starting to get annoyed.

"And you're sure this isn't some elaborate cover plan to avenge yourself with your swan enemy or to pick a fight with any other aquatic life?" Luke asked, still smiling.

Jess scowled.

"All right, all right," Luke conceded with a laugh, "Sounds good to me. Fishing it is."

"Fine, fishing it is then!" Jess growled as he picked up the empty breakfast plates and headed to the sink. Luke watched his nephew start washing up the plates and pan. If the kid wanted to take him fishing, something was definitely up. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, maybe the boy just needed money and was trying to butter him up.

"If you don't stop jerking your line like that, you're going to scare the fish away," Luke scolded, reaching out a hand to still his nephew's arm. Jess had been bouncing his knee and jostling the arm he was resting on it for the past twenty minutes, and Luke couldn't take the fidgeting any longer.

"Oh, sorry." Jess stopped moving his leg and repositioned his fishing pole. "So, this is fishing, huh?"

Luke smiled, "You bored already, Jess? We've only been out here for a couple of hours." The kid had looked restless after the first fifteen minutes in the row boat.

Jess looked over at Luke with a small smile. "I'm good. I'm just soaking up the great outdoors and enjoying all this nephew/uncle bonding time. I actually feel very Thoreau-like out here. Becoming one with nature. Distancing myself from my normal life of quiet desperation."

Luke had been trying to give Jess space to bring up whatever it was that was on his mind, but so far the boy hadn't broached any subjects out of the ordinary. Luke had filled Jess in on the recent antics of Liz and TJ, had shown him the pictures on his phone from the last time he'd babysat Doula, and had griped about his latest property conflicts with Taylor Doose. Jess had answered Luke's questions regarding his job and his life in Philly, and Luke had to admit that everything sounded like it was good, even as he waited for the other shoe to drop.

"So, Jess, uh, you're good, right?" Jess turned a puzzled expression toward Luke. "I mean, you sound good. The publishing company sounds good. The roommates sound good. You're good, right? I mean, you would tell me if you weren't, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Everything is good."

"And money? Money is good? Do you need any money? I know how it can be when you're getting a business up and running…." Luke trailed off awkwardly.

Jess smiled. "I don't need any money, Luke. I'm doing ok with money…..not great, but decent enough. I'm getting by ok," he paused. "Seriously, thanks for asking, but you really don't need to worry about me."

"And you're not in any kind of…trouble, are you?" Luke persisted. "Like legal trouble or anything?"

Jess lowered his eyes for a beat before meeting Luke's. "I'm not in any kind of trouble, legal or otherwise. I swear. I've been a very good boy."

"And you haven't, uh, gotten anyone else in trouble, right?"

Jess barked out a laugh at that, "Do people still use that expression? Jeez, no, Luke, I promise, there is no little Jess Jr. running around," "or on the way," he quickly added when Luke opened his mouth to speak again. "You're not going to be a grandpa anytime soon. I swear!" Even as Luke felt a warm swell of emotion at Jess' last comment, he noticed a flash of embarrassment cross Jess' face as the boy realized what he'd said, referring to Luke as the potential grandparent of his non-existent offspring, and he filled the silence before the boy had time to feel too awkward.

"So, good then. That's really good to hear. Everything is good. You're good," Luke smiled. "You sound good. Your life sounds good. Hell, you even look good. I'm really proud of how good you are." Luke's small smile stretched into a proud grin.

Jess returned the smile, and replied sarcastically, "Gee, thanks, Uncle Luke. I'll be even better if you hand me another beer."

"OK, then," Luke responded reaching into the cooler behind him.

"I'm starting to understand why Thoreau didn't bring his family to Walden Pond."

"All right, all right," Luke grinned as he passed the beer to Jess.

When Luke and Jess arrived back at the diner later than evening, Luke had let Caesar take off and had grilled up burgers to have for dinner before Jess hit the road. They were sitting at the counter finishing up their meal in an otherwise empty diner, when Lorelai Gilmore walked in, "Hey, Luke, I need my last coffee fix of the day! Ooh, and those last two donuts," she added, eyeing the display case on the counter. "Oh, hey, Jess," she greeted the young man at the counter. Jess nodded, but didn't get a chance to speak before the woman continued on, "I didn't know you were back in town. Aw, I think it's so sweet that you're here today, Hon" she smiled. "Oh, I'll take that to go, Luke," she directed as Luke went behind the counter to get her order together. "I'm in a rush to get back to Paul Anka. We just finished going through my room and getting rid of anything furry or sparkly that scares him. We're hitting Rory's room next!"

"Glad to see you have Paul Anka to keep you entertained in Rory's absence." Luke responded as he handed Lorelai her to go cup and the bag containing the donuts, "But, why is it sweet that Jess is here today?" He looked from Lorelai's grinning face to Jess, who avoided eye contact and kept his gaze directed behind the counter.

"Oh, no reason!" Lorelai responded. "Just nice to see you guys together. Today."

Luke gave Lorelai a puzzled look, and changed the subject, "How's Rory doing anyway? I haven't seen her around here for a while. She been staying at Yale on the weekends?" He instantly felt like kicking himself for asking about Rory in front of Jess. He wasn't really sure if the girl was a safe topic for Jess yet, and he hated to think that such a good day would end on a bad note for Jess because he'd asked a thoughtless question.

"Well," Lorelai started carefully, "Rory's actually with Christopher in Boston today. And before you ask, no, things with Christopher have not really been smoothed over since the divorce, but you know Rory, she's way too nice a kid to not go see her dad on Fathers' Day. Goodnight, gentlemen!" With a smirk and wave of her pastry bag, Lorelai headed out of the diner.

Luke could feel a smile spreading across his face as he watched Lorelai leave the diner. He tried to school his features into an expression that wouldn't annoy his nephew before turning his attention back to Jess. Too late, the boy was already scowling as he said, "Don't go reading anything into anything that crazy woman says. Can she seriously ever just not talk?"

"Who's reading anything into anything?" Luke asked, grin getting wider, "I'm not reading anything into anything. I'm just glad to see you."

"Look, Matt and Chris were both going home to see their…..families today, so we were going to close the store anyway. Then I just figured, I might as well come see you since I didn't have to work and didn't have anything else pressing to do today," Jess defended himself, leaning forward on the counter.

"That sounds reasonable," Luke confirmed with a smile as he removed their dirty plates from the counter.

"It's not a big deal, Luke."

"Who said it was?" Luke asked.

"You're grinning like an idiot."

"I'm just happy to be spending time with my boy."

"I basically just came home for the free food." Jess tried.

"Makes sense," Luke agreed.

"And if you're gonna be a jerk about it, you won't ever see me on this day again, got it?" Jess threatened.

"Hey, if we're just picking arbitrary holidays to spend together, arbor day and flag day are as good as any," Luke responded.

"And don't flatter yourself! I only came here because I didn't have the cash for a plane ticket to California to see Jimmy."

"Ah, yes, your dear old dad," Luke's smile was definitely a smirk now.

"And TJ already had plans today!" Jess' scowl dissolved into laughter as he cracked himself up at the ridiculousness of his own comment. Luke joined him, really enjoying that they could still have this kind of back and forth without any real heat from Jess' side. It was so similar and so completely opposite to the conversations they had had during the boy's angry teenage years. He missed this.

Luke was surprised to hear that Jess' head was in the same place, "Is it pathetic that I sometimes miss living here?" Jess asked quietly. "I mean, only once in a great, great while. The 'missing' thoughts are very few and far between, when they happen at all. And even then, only when there's nothing good on tv. Obviously."

"I miss you, too, Jess," Luke responded.

"And it's kind of nice to have some place to go home to when my friends are going home to their families. Some place where someone's always happy to see me. Although it still makes no sense to me why you always are….."

"I love you, too, jess."


End file.
